Stories of Tatooine
by Interesting when Alive
Summary: As Anakin and Ahsoka sit around a camp fire, Anakin begins to tell her of a story.
1. The Man with Two Faces

"Master?" Ahsoka asked

"Yes Snips", Anakin replied, though his blue eyes were still stormy, the strongness in his body still evident and his mood still fiery, he also looked tired and worn out.

"I was wondering whether you could tell me a story".

He glanced at her and when seeing the earnest look on her face smiled. Though she had been his apprentice for nearly a year now she had never asked for a story.

"What type of story would you like?", he asked. It was Ahsoka's turn to smile now.

"A good one" she replied.

Anakin smirked, "a good one?", he echoed. "Ok, the stories which are told on Tatooine which I know are often darker than most, so if you want me to stop please say". She nodded and he thought of a story to tell Ahsoka. Having found a suitable one in a low, quiet voice he began.

 _Once there was a woman called Lavinia and she was tall and dark haired and in her grey eyes a light shone for she had not come from that planet on which the desert is everyone's master. However like many people before her and many people who would come after her she had succumbed to the ruthlessness of the Hutts, for they had a power on that planet which outside orders could not diminish. Lavinia had a hard life, due to being a pleasure slave, and she was old before her time because of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her master and the twin suns which beared down upon here, but for all this the light never diminished in her eyes._

"Master", Ahsoka interrupted, "is this a story you were told when you were younger".

He nodded. "Would you like me to stop, I can tell another one if you wish". His eyes had a far away look them and it was evident that he was not seeing what Ahsoka saw in front of her.

She shook her head, "sorry I interrupted, please continue".

"You sure?", he asked. She nodded and he continued.

 _Now one night the desert came knocking at her door and in the voices of the wind and the sand said that she would bear a child and when the the child was born she named him Lindil which means Warrior in the tongue she spoke before she came to the planet on which the desert rule, for being born from the desert meant that his life would never be easy._

 _The boy grew up and was loved by his mother for he was the only thing she could call his. While his mother was like the night sky he was like the morning for where his mother had been dark haired, fair skinned and grey eyed, he was tanned, his hair golden and his eyes blue. Yet in many ways he was like his mother for he had the same fire which burnt in her eyes, was quick to pity, and the suffering or death of living things might move him to tears for he was more sensitive than most but he was slow to forget injustice and mockery. Lindil, like those who lived in the desert could sense when a sandstorm was coming, he could sense events before they would happen, but the other children as they too were born from the desert accepted this strange talent._

"Master", Snips inquired, "do you think he was Force sensitive"?

"Most probably, but you must understand that when the Jedi Order is this far from a planet, people do not always understand what this power might be".

"But surely bounty hunters and pilots come there who understand what this power is"?

"Yes they do, but even when they do and they do know and they do tell stories of Jedi, it is still only a small chance that they may take the child off the planet".

Ahsoka nodded in acceptance and once again he continued.

 _And so the boy grew and though he was kind of heart, he was not popular for he was too serious and too whimsical for the people around him for he foresaw that one day he would be rescued from this planet. And he was. As Lindil was reaching the cusp of manhood his father came back to Lavinia and Lindil and his father promised him another life, far away from the desolateness of the desert and he accepted. Lindil was sad to leave his mother behind and Lavinia was sad to see him go for she, like most mothers do, had loved that child and did not want to give up the only thing which she could call hers, but believing that her son would have a better life let him go, but from that day henceforth the light was gone from her eyes._

 _Lindil's father had two faces though; the one that wanted to love and the one which wanted to hate, a dark and cruel one which Lindil was loathe to behold. For years Lindil resisted the dark which surrounded his father and desperately tried to hold to the light, but when one day his father brought back Lavinia broken and tortured and with the life fading quickly from her body, Lindil broke. He was so consumed by fear and anger he killed his father, and as many do, had become a tyrant like his father in the process. Lindil too had two faces; the one which wanted to love and the one which wanted to hate. He would come to realise that meaning of his name, Warrior, was apt for his two faces were constantly in conflict._

"Master?" asked Ahsoka.

He looked up once more into her blue eyes.

"Is this story true?"

Anakin laughed softly, " I don't know Snips, I don't know. I think this story is more allegorical or more of a warning…I've always wondered the same thing. I suppose most stories have an element of truth in them. Would you like me to stop?".

Ahsoka shook her head and so Anakin continued.

 _One day a girl arrived, and she too was like the night sky with her dark hair, pale skin and grey eyes and so alike was she to his mother that when Lindil first saw him he thought she was his mother reincarnated. She was kind and warm and unlike others she did fear him or his wrath for which he was now infamous for, while others treated him with fear she treated him with love. And so he was again in turmoil for his two faces were in conflict- while one wanted him to love, the other wanted him to hate._

 _A day arrived when the face which wanted him to hate was in power and so Lindil ordered her to go on an impossible mission for which he knew she would not return, for he still possessed the sight to see events before they happened. As soon as he had let her go the face which wanted him to love resumed power and so he followed her to rescue her from the mission which he knew she would die from._

 _But by the time he arrived it was already too late, though she was still alive the life was leaving her body. Lindil hurried to her side and cradled her dying body with her dark hair, light skin and grey eyes. As she was dying he whispered that he had loved her and with her dying breath she whispered that she loved him as well. Tears swept freely down Lindil's face but he no longer hated and he was no longer in turmoil as the face which had hated had died. But Lindil knew that he was also dying for so great had the conflict been between the two faces the energy within him was almost spent and so resting his head on her body he died._

Anakin paused and his eyes once again had a far away look to them.

"Master?", Ahsoka asked cautiously, "what happened to them afterwards".

Anakin smiled slowly, "it is sad that when they were first found the people were not sad for him being dead, but later some people came to realised that his two faces came to represent the two sides of people's personality".

Ahsoka nodded, yes she could see that.

'What was the girl in the story called?"

"Leia" he replied.

* * *

Please review and tell me if you want any more


	2. One who Forgave

It was a cold day, the kind of cold which got into your bones and made you cold no matter how many layers of clothing you wore, and as Ahsoka sat there with her knees drawn up to her chest and head bowed, she could not but help think of her warm room at the Jedi Temple. It was not often she thought of it, during the war she had found that what she had become to know as 'home' was where her Master and friends where; as a result Ahsoka was not slow at making friends. But today as her Master sat down next to her she felt she needed a little more.

"You alright Snips?", Anakin asked.

She nodded.

"You sure you're alright", Anakin asked again, "you seem a little quiet".

"Yeah I'm all right", Ahsoka replied, "I'm just a little tired and worn out, thats all".

Anakin nodded in agreement. No matter how hard he tried not to let the war get to him, it was still seeping into him. He thought of it as a dam- no matter how hard the engineers tried, sometime or another there would come a time when they were off guard, or a specially strong force damaged the dam or even just the general wear and tear and then soon enough water would begin to seep in through the cracks. He tried not to let it show too much but everyone who knew him well knew that the image of the strong, energetic, fearless, happy man was nothing but a facade. The title he was given by the media, the 'Hero with No Fear", while it may be true of his own attitude to danger, when a loved one was in danger he was certainly not without fear. In fact he often thought that he was one of the most fearful there.

He looked across at her. It had been a quite a long time since she had first become his padawan, almost a year, if not more. Despite their slightly rocky start he had grown to love and care for her as one of his own. In many ways she was quite like him, perhaps thats why the Jedi Temple put them together in the first place, but whereas with him there was an inner darkness, although she was fearful at times she did manage to keep her emotions mostly in check. Physically she was thinner and taller than she had been a year ago and though he doubted whether she would grow a lot more and she had retained her prettiness. He saw more than a few boys look at her.

"Master?" Ahsoka asked, "how do you cope with this cold?".

Anakin pulled a wry smile, "what do you mean?".

Ahsoka gave him a withering look, "well since you came from a planet which possess two suns, how did you and how do manage to not get cold when the temperature is as low as this?".

Anakin smiled remembering when he had at last managed to escape that planet, only to find the coldness of space and the coldness of Corusant and nearly every subsequent planet afterwards.

"When I first left Tatooine I didn't think I would ever be warm again but my body has adjusted and so now I can cope with temperatures that aren't a constant fifty degrees".

"But when temperatures are as cold as this…", said Ahsoka.

"Well when temperatures are as cold as this…then I am just cold". They both smiled at this.

"Master?", asked Ahsoka again.

"Yes Snips"

"Please could you tell me another story".

Anakin looked at her, nodded and began a new story.

 _Once there was a man called Phoenix and like his name suggested he was fiery in temperent and quick anger and at times so fierce that all who beheld him shuddered. He was not a bad man however, and it was said that he was a God, or at least a demi- God, and that when he was born his mother, holding him by the ankle dipped him into the Waters of Immortality._

 _He was warlike and became famed throughout the land for his skill and strength in battle; he could use a longbow and such was his strength make it look easy, he could wield a blade with such speed and agility that all who stood in his way would fall, he was also wise as he knew when to stay fast and a when to proceed which made him beloved amongst the soldiers._

 _One day he was called away to help lead an army against a walled city state and he went for had foreseen that it was his destiny to do so. The war was long and bloody for the two armies were equally matched. Towards the end of the war his lover, dressed in his armour led an attack against the enemy. But the lover was not as skilled as Phoenix, but such was his likeness and in the way he moved, that the Prince beyond the Walls mistook him for Phoenix and killed him as he thought that by Phoenix's death the war would be brought to a quicker end._

 _When Phoenix's saw his lover's dead body, his temper was quickly inflamed and he was consumed by it, and riding to the walls of the city he shouted the name of the Prince beyond the Walls. The Prince came down from the walls for he now knew who he had killed and he knew that such a mistake would cost him his life for skilled as he was in fighting, he knew Phoenix would defeat him._

 _So the Prince beyond the Walls and Phoenix fought and the fight was long and hard, but the Prince beyond the Walls had not been dipped in the Waters of Immortality so when Phoenix stabbed him in the heart he died and so Phoenix was triumphant. Phoenix, still consumed by the rage and anger by the death of his lover at the hands of this man, dragged the Prince's body behind his horse around the city each day for the next ten days. All who beheld this sight was saddened for they had loved the Prince for he was brave and nobel and intelligent._

 _As the Prince beyond the Wall's brother watched this he was angered for he knew that no one should be treated like this so he promised himself that the next time Phoenix rode by dragging his brothers body he would avenge him. The next day came and when Phoenix was riding by the Prince's brother, he took his bow and fired a single arrow and such was his skill and such was Phoenix's fate, it pierced Phoenix's ankle which had not been dipped in the Waters of Immortality for that is where his mother held him._

 _Phoenix fell from his horse and though this wound was only in the ankle he knew that it would bring death. The Prince's brother came rushing down from the walls to see the Prince's killer and found Phoenix lying in the sand with a single tear coursing down his cheek for he knew that his end had come._

 _In his dying breath he said to the Prince's brother and his killer, "the prophecy has been fulfilled, I have met my destiny in this war and have been killed because of my anger and the one who held most dear". And so Phoenix died and the Prince's brother hearing this wept for he knew that this man was human and susceptible to failure and behind the hardened warlike exterior was a good man._

 _The Prince's brother untied the Prince from the horse and cremated him the next day in front of the city walls so his own people and his enemies could all behold this and on that day there was no fighting and on the subsequent days which followed there was no fighting for both camps were in mourning for the dead. In this time Phoenix's people had forgotten about him, for while they admired his skill, they knew that he was nothing to them dead, and now the only person that had loved him was dead, and so outside the city walls his body would have rotted till there was nothing left until all traces of Phoenix had died, if the Prince's brother had not rescued him and quietly burnt him like he did with the Prince._

Anakin and Ahsoka sat in silence for a while after the story had finished.

"Master", Ahsoka said at last, "why do you only tell sad stories?"

Anakin looked at her and smiled saying, "I was only really told sad stories so its only the ones I know and mainly the stories of Tatooine ".

Ahsoka nodded and they both sat in silence for a while.

"Master", began Ahsoka again, "why did they desert Phoenix even after all he had done for them".

"I don't know Snips, sometimes just because you may follow them into war doesn't mean you will go to their funeral and sometimes just because that person may perceived to be liked or have lots of friends doesn't mean they do".

"I hope that doesn't happen to me".

Anakin laughed, "I'm sure it won't".

They once again fell into silence.

"Master", Ahsoka began again, "what was the name of the Prince's brother?".

Anakin smiled and looked at her, "Luke", he said. "It means "One who Forgives".

* * *

Metaphorical brownie points who can guess which story it is based on. It shouldn't be very hard


	3. One who Changes

While everyone else crowded into the tents waiting for the storm to pass, Anakin stood outside letting the rain drench him to the bone and the wind whip his hair. and as Ahsoka came to stand next to him, he asked in a voice of Air and Water, "do you hear the wind and rain".

Ahsoka looked out onto the expanse before her which the rain poured down upon and the wind swept through and watched how the trees threatened to uproot and topple over, and how air was eerily silent from the absence of bird song, and how the water was running with unstoppable energy. _Yes, she thought to herself, I can hear the wind and rain._

"Master, why do you like the rain?"

Both were silent as and then Anakin began to tell her a story.

 _Until I came to the Temple I had never seen the rain, on Tatooine it never rained, not in all the nine years I lived there. My mother had once said it had rained for a short while when she was a child and when it did all the people, freemen, masters and slaves alike, all came out of the buildings to stand in the rain. She said that people remained there until the storm had passed and the rain no longer flooded down the streets._

 _When I had my first bath in the Temple I could not understand why we were wasting all this hot water, when on Tatooine people were dying of thirst, and when it first rained on Corusant I ran out of the Temple and stood there with my arms outstretched like my mother had on Tatooine all those years before. When Kenobi finally found me I was soaked to the bone and my hair was dripping but I just remember that was one of the happiest moments of my life. I still love the feeling of the cool water on my skin and the rain so thick it drips off my eyelashes._

 _It is said that Tatooine once looked like Alderaan or Naboo for the are cave paintings in which people are swimming. But one day people from a strange planet with strange names started to enslave the people, tear up and cultivate the land with little knowledge and forethought, and so slowly the planet started to die until only endless sand remained. The strange people left leaving their dark gift of slavery and erasing from their minds the planet and how they had destroyed it._

 _When I was younger a old woman used to tell me of this legend of how a Child of the Desert with sun bleached hair and ocean blue eyes would, by his death, bring life back into planet and once more people would dance in the rain and swim in the rivers like they had done all those years previously when the planet was not yet reigned by the Desert._

"Master, do you think that day will come, when he Child of the Desert is dead it will rain again like it did before?"

Anakin was quiet for a moment, his eyes looking far into he distance. "Yes", he replied finally, "I think that day will come".

"Master?", asked Ahsoka, "what is the real name of the Child of the Desert?".

"What do you mean?".

"Well, surely he has a name like you or I have one?".

"Oh". Anakin replied. "She said that he his name was "Mutano, which means the 'The One who Changes'".

* * *

 _For this story I was inspired by the cave paintings of people swimming in the Sahara desert that people have found (read The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje) and the Dust Bowl in America in the 1930s were people didnt farm the land properly and as a result for about ten years the land was infertile._

 _Reviews welcomed :)_


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